Warner Bros. and Paramount are eyeing Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks for the feature version of post- 9/11 drama “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” with Scott Rudin producing.
Warners, the lead studio on the project, indicated it has made offers to the thesps but is not yet in formal negotiations. And the studios have not yet greenlit the project. The Jonathan Safran Foer novel, set in 2003, centers on a 9-year-old boy who finds a key in a vase that belongs to his father — who perished in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — and searches to find the lock that goes with it. It was one of the first American novels to incorporate the Sept. 11 events into the plot.
Rudin has been developing the project since 2005, when “Extremely Loud” was published. Eric Roth has adapted the novel and Stephen Daldry is attached to direct.
Should Bullock sign on, it would be her first role since “The Blind Side.” Hanks will next be seen opposite Julia Roberts in U’s comedy-drama “Larry Crowne,” which he also directed and produced.
Rudin’s upcoming pics are “The Social Network” for Sony and “True Grit” for Paramount.
Warner and Par have not yet worked out which will handle the domestic and overseas release for “Extremely Loud.”
The studios co-produced F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which Roth adapted.
